Expedia finds a fellow traveler
The company teams up with Ticketmaster to create a new site that will combine the entertainment listings of the Citysearch site with Expedia's travel-booking tool.
The companies said the partnership will provide Citysearch's new Getaways Channel with Expedia's booking tool, and Citysearch's local entertainment listings and ticketing capabilities will be added to the Expedia site.
The deal marks the first significant collaboration between the two companies, owned by USA Interactive. More such deals could be in the works as USA Interactive moves to streamline its operations. On Monday, the company announced a renewed e-commerce push and a possible realigning of its operations with a bid to buy the shares it doesn't already own of its Expedia, Ticketmaster and Hotels.com subsidiaries.
The new Getaways Channel is now on the menu at the top of all Citysearch city guides, designed to help consumers search for and book flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, cruises and vacation packages.
Citysearch content won't be available on Expedia until later this summer, the companies said. The two companies have already experimented with cooperation this year by selling live event tickets to customers booking trips through Expedia.